Kickstarter Comments Spark 11th-Hour Redesign of Tiny Game Console

PlayJam's $79 portable videogame console, GameStick. The company recently overhauled the design of the device in response to feedback from backers of its Kickstarter campaign. Image courtesy PlayJam

Playjam, the maker of the Android-powered videogame-console-in-a-controller GameStick revealed a vastly upgraded design today in response to feedback from Kickstarter backers.

GameStick originally sported a blocky shape and thin discs for analog control. Now the control sticks are taller, the buttons have had rubber added for comfort, and several features like MicroSD support and wireless charging via an optional dock have been added.

“You designed it,” Playjam CEO Jasper Smith wrote in an 11th-hour Kickstarter update post. “Some of your requests are way out there … but most are truly insightful and are really helping us make better decisions.”

The update comes less than 72 hours before the end of a tumultuous but ultimately successful campaign. The $79 GameStick console is a mere two inches long, and fits inside a slot in its own controller. The Kickstarter campaign has already earned over $500,000 after setting an initial funding goal of one-fifth that amount. GameStick says it will begin shipping the devices in April.

In early January the GameStick Kickstarter campaign was temporarily suspended due to an intellectual property lawsuit: A GameStick developer included an image of a non-GameStick compatible game in the official Kickstarter pitch video. PlayJam was forced to upload an edited video before it could continue seeking funding.

Smith said in the update that he has the ears of “almost all the major retailers in the world,” and reports that hundreds of indie game developers have signed up for the GameStick developer program.

GameStick is currently only the second most popular super-cheap, Android-powered, Kickstarter-funded TV game machine: The Ouya, a $99 device, set Kickstarter records when it received over $8.5 million in funding in August of 2012. Both devices promise to cater to independent game developers, but its unclear whether they’ll actually be a safe haven for smaller devs.